Started my Free Range setup for Aquaman

[DesertChameleon]

Update: So the past 3 days, Aquaman has not been wanting to return to his enclosure and sleeping over on his free range setup. My 2 concerns are UVB and hydration. I do not yet have a fixed UVB lamp for the free range and I just manually use my spare T8 (his enclosure uses a T5 bulb) to manually dose him twice for 10-15 minute intervals in the morning right when I wake up and before leaving him in the room. When I return to the room when I can, I dose him again with random intervals of UVB. The free range plants don’t get misted the way his enclosure does so I’ve just been using hornworms for that. Will this suffice for now?

 

[DesertChameleon]

I’ve been misting his cage in the morning, afternoon, and right before bed to see if it would entice him to drink but no joy on that one , he just climbs up looking to go back out on the free range or perch up top his cage. May have to lock him in to drink off the leaves, hornworms ain’t cheap

 

[DesertChameleon]

Eureka!! Success!!! He is drinking! For the first time during his free range escapades (the light is not flash, that is his spare T8 bulb following him around) 3rd day’s a charm.

 

[DesertChameleon]

He has not been enjoying the desert sun when I give him natural sunlight as it is always above a 100 degrees out there. In the other seasons, he loves natural sunlight, but in the summer, he climbs me frantically until he is in shade. So the artificial UVB in the summer will have to do.

 

[DesertChameleon]

Still drinking and catching UVB with his cage door open. Roam free when you please little guy. Had me worried the last couple days (hydration is my top concern living in the desert)

 

[DesertChameleon]

And he is ready to roam. This is his usual path. For some reason, the cage door is always his first stop. He then looks at the newest added vines that I added to connect his enclosure to the curtain rod before he makes his way for it.

 

[DesertChameleon]

Thanks for stopping by. One more question: Yawning or don’t like UVB time?

 

[Sonny13]

This will settle with time…..and they’re smart will seek up their needed uvb , hydration can be more tricky but still they could learn when it’s watering time. I.e. my setup first turns off the uvb and 5 min later the misters turn on and 30 min later the plant light turns off.
At least this is my experience with free ranging. I would say just let him do his thing.
Love what you’re doing

 

[DesertChameleon]

Aquaman has only been going back to his enclosure to sleep and drink now. Not sure if he is mindfully going back for UVB as well so I’m still manually giving him UVB when out on his free range area just in case.

Other free range news, I got some monsteras about a month back and have been slowly conditioning them to stronger sunlight.

Well today, I placed them by the window for the first time and I am just amazed at how curious chameleons are.

He practically bolted from the corner out to the branch in front of the window just so he can take a closer look at the monsteras.

 

[Sonny13]

I don’t think Aquaman is the only one addicted to the free range

 

[DesertChameleon]

This will settle with time…..and they’re smart will seek up their needed uvb , hydration can be more tricky but still they could learn when it’s watering time. I.e. my setup first turns off the uvb and 5 min later the misters turn on and 30 min later the plant light turns off.
At least this is my experience with free ranging. I would say just let him do his thing.
Love what you’re doing

I gave that a try actually, turning off all the lights and running the sprinklers plus using my handheld mister getting the enclosure super wet. He goes back on his own from the desk and he’s been drinking everyday since. He only does this in the morning and towards the end of the day though. When I mist at different times, he just ignores it so I made it a point to just water a whole lot after lights turn on in the morning and about an hour before his bed time. Instead of more frequent, short bursts of watering like I used to. Easier to clean up the water at the bottom this way too. Appreciate all the tips and tricks.